Home of

ManagementBoy

ManagementBoy

This space belongs to Management Boy and Medicine Girl. Everything here is our stuff. It reflects our ideals and thoughts. You might find some of it objectionable, or might like it a lot. In any case feel free to send us an e-Mail. Some of the content has been online for years and has not changed. If you feel like using anything on these pages for your own personal happiness, contact us first, we don't bite.

Miscellany

email:elkin(at)elkin(dot)de
skype:managementboy
msn:managementboy

19 August 11 - 21:21exiftool to sort files into directories

This is a nice commandline that uses the exiftool to sort all pictures in "oldplace" to subdirectories defined by the original time and date that the picture was taken. It is also a nice way of removing duplicates.

28 July 11 - 23:43Nice way to record your VCR shows using Linux

Today I spend a few hours trying out how to best record a few things I had on a VCR tape. The recordings where made in NTSC but the playback would be on a PAL VCR player. The following command uses a Video4Linux2 capture card to record and uses the normal audio card to record the audio. Change the "input=2" to the composite or s-video input in your configuration. The avi that is created is uncompressed and will grow really big.

11 May 11 - 14:04Things I want to happen when I die

Just this month my beloved Uncle Uwe died. I miss him. He had made
his wishes clear by writing a letter to his family declaring what he
wished for to happen if he where to die. This I must admit is a big help
to those who are left behind. I talked to my father about what he
wanted before he died, but he never wrote it down. Just informing one or
a few members of your family is a lot better than none, but it still
leaves behind nagging questions for those who did not get this
information first hand.

Today I read this post
by Jon Canter in the Guardian. He wrote how his sister wanted a
godless funeral and how he managed it. The following is kind of an open
testament, to make life easyer for those of my loved ones, in the case
of my some day to be expected death. I am a non-believer. I was not
raised either Chrstian, Muslim or any other Religion. I am very sure
that there is no afterlife. Here are some ideas of how I would like my
funeral to be.

First, get the cheapest casket available.
If it's the pink one or the one with the power-rangers, that's fine
with me. I don't care if I am cremated or buried, take the cheaper
option. Be sure to choose the cheapest option in the long term, a simple
net present value
calculation on the cost of maintaining a plot should be enough .
Don't get a viccar or similar person to do the talking. I expect my
friends to take on that role and have some fun. Unearth some of the most
emarasing moments for the amusement of everyone! I have three songs
that I would like to be sung, "O Lord Please Don't Burn Us" and "Meaning
Of Life" by Monty Pyhton. To finish I would love the song "Always Look
On The Bright Side Of Life". I love the idea of having a minute of
silence, followed my cheering and
clapping like at a soccer match, at the end of the ceremony. Afterwards
go get something to eat. I don't want any flowers or wreaths at the
ceremony. If you feel like you need to do something, plant a tree for
me. If you want to donate, do so to the Richard Dawkins foundation or the JREF. But don't feel like you have to!

07 April 11 - 10:50ManagementBoy by Len Peralta

I have been a fan of Len Peralta ever since he started the Geek a Week
podcast. A few days ago I was made aware by Geed Dad that Len had
started a new series, where one could get a hero or villain drawn by him
for just $50 (34,- €). I immediately ordered my ManagementBoy hero! I must say it is way cooler than I
had expected, especially because I had my own preconceptions.

22 February 11 - 19:09Some improvements to mythnettv

It seems that the original development of mythnettv has stopped. I have been maintaining a branch of my own, just to scratch some itches I had, as I use it to download such shows as TED-Talks and SLOW TV. The following is a list of changes I have done to the code since release 7 (January 2009) by Michael Still, that might interest you:

the command "mythnettv statistics" is now much shorter. I have commented out most of the "what has been downloaded" part and only left "what will be downloaded".

downloads which are stored in a folder are handled a bit better, but some more work needs to be done. Only single file video files in a folder are currently supported.

no transcoding is done for most modern, linux friendly file formats, as they are well supported by the internal player within MythTV 0.24.

some basic detection of subtitles, audio (mono, stereo etc) and video (widescreen, 720p etc) properties is done while importing. This metadata is inserted into the database to be displayed as if the file had be recorded with valid EPG data.

a new command line "myhtnettv updatemeta filename" allows you to update the database retrospectively with the above data. This also works for "normal" recordings made by MythTV, if your EPG data was not accurate for these values.